This is an early chapter book, 26 pages long, containing periodic full-page and half-page colored illustrations. Williams says it is the first in a series of historical mysteries for children. The illustrations are simple but effective and appear to be a compilation of computer graphics.

It features three children, Kat, Albert, and Leyla, who use libraries and documents to solve historical puzzles. I love this concept. What a great series this could make for teachers to use in their classroom. This is more of a discovery book than a suspense novel. The children are never in danger at any time.

I wondered about the title, but being Canadian I don’t know that much about American presidents. Once the children started to uncover information about the president who has been ignored by history, I understood. “During the war (1861 – 1865), President Abraham Lincoln was the President of the Union and Jefferson Davis was the President of the Confederacy.” What a clever way to introduce a little-known historical fact. I was glad to see the author mentioned that history is written by the winners. Basically, this means we only ever get half the story and that half from a singular perspective with its own agenda.

Two things I would suggest this author works on avoiding before her next publication are the dreaded info dump and inconsistent verb tense. The author needs to know all the characters backgrounds the reader really doesn’t.

Here’s an example of what I mean by verb tense.

The Alleykats have definitely had a full day and it looks like they will make it home in enough time for dinner with their families. “I’m going to share this information with my family at the dinner table this evening,” said Leila. Kat turns to Sgt. Major and says, “You have been great Sgt. Major, thank you for everything especially the tour, we learned so much.”

You probably also noticed author intrusion and unnecessary repetition about dinner. I would recommend a stern editor go over Williams’ next manuscript before publication. This is such an original and educational series, it deserves to be perfect. This first book is worth sharing with a child.

A copy of this book was generously donated by the author to my Little Free Library.